Hardest game to get when it was brand new?

[gbpxl]

Most games could be bought by simply going to a department store, electronics store, etc. But what about games that either were pulled from shelves right away, or maybe only a few stores carried them? Or maybe they were only available via mail order?

The first that comes to mind is the Panesian NES games. How would you have gotten these? Sex shops? Mail order? I cant see Target selling those games.

Stadium Events, I dont remember the full story behind, I just know there was some kind of licensing dispute.

TurboGrafx16 I had never seen in stores as a kid. To this day, Ive never seen one for sale in person. I bought mine off pricecharting.com

Urban Yeti could only be bought via mail order from what I am gathering. Wonder how many other games were like that?

Super Noahs Ark 3D? What store would have even carried that?

Basically what this boils down to is rarity I suppose but its not just artificial rarity in the way of people just tossing the game or hoarding it, making available copies hard to come by, but games that were destined to be obscure from the start

[YoshiM]

I want to say the Panesian games were at rental shops that carried adult movies. It's the only place I saw them and I swore I read or heard something back then confirming that thought.

I could never find TG-16 titles locally. I had to go mail order out of magazines.

[Natty Bumppo]

Any of the last releases for the Sega CD and the Saturn. Not many of them were made and most stores (at least around here) sold whatever they received as preorders. The few stores that actually put any on the floor jacked up their prices and sold them on the day that they put them out.

[Natty Bumppo]

Super Noahs Ark 3D? What store would have even carried that?

Some Christian bookstores carried the Wisdom Tree games. (I suspect that is how most of Wisdom Tree's sales were made.)

[Aussie2B]

They're certainly not THE hardest, but the hardest ones for me personally were Harvest Moon for SNES and Valkyrie Profile for PS1. My mom had a heck of a time trying to locate a copy of the former, checking many stores, and I myself struggled to find a copy of the latter. Granted, we weren't trying to get either of these on the actual day of release. Harvest Moon very well could've already been out for a couple months or more, and with Valkyrie Profile, I remember it was about four months past the release date. I called up stores that carried games one by one out of the phone book looking for Valkyrie Profile, and none had any copies except for an independent game store that had one single copy. So I snatched that up immediately.

[mailman187666]

I can't remember having a hard time finding certain games when I was younger. Likely because it was my mother going and buying them. I do remember seeing TurboGrafx 16 stuff in Lechmere back in the day. I remember playing a store demo of Keith Courage there a long time ago. I think KB Toys used to carry TG 16 too, but I could be wrong.

[goldenband]

Short of certain mail-order computer titles for 1980s computers, I'd think the rarest Atari 2600 games have to take the cake on this one. Extra Terrestrials, Gamma Attack, Red Sea Crossing, Air Raid -- all would have been impossible to find unless you knew the right person, lived in the right geographic area, or happened to get a knock at your door.

[Greg2600]

Getting Super Mario 2 and then 3, Zelda II, Metroid, when they were just released, was mighty tough. Sold out all over the place. As for these obscure titles everyone is mentioning, I wouldn't have even heard about them.

[gbpxl]

Short of certain mail-order computer titles for 1980s computers, I'd think the rarest Atari 2600 games have to take the cake on this one. Extra Terrestrials, Gamma Attack, Red Sea Crossing, Air Raid -- all would have been impossible to find unless you knew the right person, lived in the right geographic area, or happened to get a knock at your door.

So why were those games hard to find?

[Tupin]

So why were those games hard to find?

I believe those were all basically homebrew outfits.

[Koa Zo]

Phantasy Star II ~ had no idea about specific release dates, it was supposedly "out" but no stores had it in stock. Finally an Electronics Boutique opened and they said they had it but it was sold out (I was directed to Thunder Force III instead, good recommendation!) Restock took months it seemed like.

Panzer Dragoon Saga ~ info was scarce it seemed. Toys R Us had the flip card display but no copies for sale... Babbages and EB said it was sold out. The next issue of EGM or whatever had an ad for it - why would they advertise if it was sold out?... but no one had it... Then finally it was restocked. ...and I got it for $29.99

Eternal Champions CD Challenge From the Dark Side ~ release date kept getting bumped back, just one release date after another, seemed like it was never going to come out. I went to the store too many times asking for that one.

Magic Knight Rayearth (US Saturn) ~ another game where the release date was set numerous times, seemed like it was never going to come out.

[Tron 2.0]

I remember,TG16 not being rare at retail places such as babbages and toy's'rus and sears all ways selling them.Still games such as exile wicked phenomenon being rather scarce to find at retail.Another example snatcher for the sega-cd,when i did originally have a copy i bought it from kaybee toy store and it was the only one on the shelf.

[YoshiM]

@Tron- must be a regional thing for Sears. The one in the closest city didn't really have games until the early 90's. An electronics sales person growled at me stating they didn't have games when asked. It wasn't until I worked there that tge children's department started carrying them, but only NES, SNES and maybe Genesis. The only places I saw TG-16 stuff was in Milwaukee at Toys R Us (though can't recall if Fond du Lac TRU carried Turbo stuff) or, strange enough, for rent at one grocery store.

For me, I rented a lot, so I didn't run into the issue of not finding a game. My Dad, however, was trying to find Kid Icarus (he read my black Nintendo Player's Guide and liked what he saw of that game). He was able to beat someone to the last copy hanging on a peg hook at Kohl's.

[bb_hood]

Stadium Events wasnt rare when it was released. It was re-released by Nintendo as World Class Track Meet. The unsold copies were returned and destroyed I think.
So I wouldnt say it was hard to find when it was released; it was there but nobody wanted it.
Super Mario 2 was very hard to find. I remember my dad took me to like 5 video game stores looking for it before we found one copy (the last one left), and it was 55$.

Also Urban Yeti was advertised & sold on television commercials, and I think it also had a (limited?) release in stores.
I wouldnt consider this one hard to get since it was easily bought if you had a phone and credit card.

[Tron 2.0]

@Tron- must be a regional thing for Sears. The one in the closest city didn't really have games until the early 90's. An electronics sales person growled at me stating they didn't have games when asked. It wasn't until I worked there that tge children's department started carrying them, but only NES, SNES and maybe Genesis. The only places I saw TG-16 stuff was in Milwaukee at Toys R Us (though can't recall if Fond du Lac TRU carried Turbo stuff) or, strange enough, for rent at one grocery store.

For me, I rented a lot, so I didn't run into the issue of not finding a game. My Dad, however, was trying to find Kid Icarus (he read my black Nintendo Player's Guide and liked what he saw of that game). He was able to beat someone to the last copy hanging on a peg hook at Kohl's.

At retail sears selection wasn't much for the turbografx 16.Though what they sold through there catalog was more,i remember when i wanted Ys 1&2 i order it from there.

[jb143]

At retail sears selection wasn't much for the turbografx 16.Though what they sold through there catalog was more,i remember when i wanted Ys 1&2 i order it from there.

You know, I remember looking though those catalogs and that's the only place I ever saw anything like TG16 systems, but I don't ever once recall thinking of it as something you could order from. More of a Christmas Wish-all-you-want book.

I'm pretty sure TG16 in particular was only released regionally. The only person I know(in real life) who had one as a kid grew up in Chicago.

[mailman187666]

Phantasy Star II ~ had no idea about specific release dates, it was supposedly "out" but no stores had it in stock. Finally an Electronics Boutique opened and they said they had it but it was sold out (I was directed to Thunder Force III instead, good recommendation!) Restock took months it seemed like.

Panzer Dragoon Saga ~ info was scarce it seemed. Toys R Us had the flip card display but no copies for sale... Babbages and EB said it was sold out. The next issue of EGM or whatever had an ad for it - why would they advertise if it was sold out?... but no one had it... Then finally it was restocked. ...and I got it for $29.99

Eternal Champions CD Challenge From the Dark Side ~ release date kept getting bumped back, just one release date after another, seemed like it was never going to come out. I went to the store too many times asking for that one.

Magic Knight Rayearth (US Saturn) ~ another game where the release date was set numerous times, seemed like it was never going to come out.

I specifically remember Eternal Champions getting pushed back. I actually used to call Funco Land every time it was supposed to get released, and I think it took about 3-4 phone calls until they actually said they had it. I can't remember how long the wait was between original release date and actual release date though.

[peeingas]

Stadium Events wasnt rare when it was released. It was re-released by Nintendo as World Class Track Meet. The unsold copies were returned and destroyed I think.

No kidding. People always talk about that game like it was something everyone always wanted. It wasn't. It is just an internet thing. I often see posts of people with stuff like "I saw 50 copies of that game at Funcoland in 1992 but I didn't buy them, and I went back and they were gone." My response is "you imagined that." no one would have even cared about that game in 1992, let alone enough to remember something like that years , decades later.

[Tron 2.0]

You know, I remember looking though those catalogs and that's the only place I ever saw anything like TG16 systems, but I don't ever once recall thinking of it as something you could order from. More of a Christmas Wish-all-you-want book.

I'm pretty sure TG16 in particular was only released regionally. The only person I know(in real life) who had one as a kid grew up in Chicago.

It was either the sears wish book or there other season catalogs.Though i remember being able to order TG16 games from them,even if the selection wasn't much.Still,NEC never did put enough effort to distribute the console for north america.

[Gameguy]

No kidding. People always talk about that game like it was something everyone always wanted. It wasn't. It is just an internet thing. I often see posts of people with stuff like "I saw 50 copies of that game at Funcoland in 1992 but I didn't buy them, and I went back and they were gone." My response is "you imagined that." no one would have even cared about that game in 1992, let alone enough to remember something like that years , decades later.

I assume most people are just confusing it with Athletic World as the labels and packaging are very similar, at least the original packaging looks close to Stadium Events.